Beet-harvester.



PATENTBD 001127, 1903. E. BEER & F. CRANE.

BEET HARVESTER.

APPLIOATION FILED my 4, 1903.

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N0 MODEL.

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No. 742,151. Y PATENTED 001*. 27, 1903. E. BEER & F. CRANE.

BEET HARVESTER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 4, 1903.

no MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Na. 742,151. PATENTED 001". 27, 1903.

E. BEER dz F. CRANE.

BEET HARVESTER.

} APPLIGATION FILED MAY 4, '1903. N0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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- ing description and claims whentaken in con- .nection with the accompanying drawings, in

UNITED STATES liatehtedOctober 27, 1903.

PATE T OFFICE.

EPI-I-RAIM BEER AND FRANK CRANE, OF FORT COLLINS, COLORADO, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-HALF TO MURRAY M. ST. CLAlR AND ANDREW WVICKSTROM, OF FORT COLLINS, COLORADO.

BEET-HARVESTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 74:2,15], dated October 27, 1903.

Application filed May 4, 1903. Serial No. 155,656. (No model.)

To all whom it'may concern.-

Be it known that we, EPHRAIM BEER and FRANK CRANE, citizens of the United States,

residing at Fort Collins, in the county of ble harvesting machine means whereby the driver is enabled to quickly and easilythrow the vegetable-raising mechanism into and on of operation.

Other advantageous features of the inven tion will be fullyunderstood from the followwhich g Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of the machine constituting the preferred embodiment of ourinvention, the section being taken on broken line 11 of Fig. 2; Fig. 2', a top plan of the same; Fig. 3, a longitudinal vertical section taken in the plane indicated bythe broken line 3 30f Fig. 2; Fig. 4, an enlarged detail transverse section taken in the plane indicated by broken line 4 4c of Fig. 1; Fig. 5, an enlarged perspective illustrating a portion of one of the slats or crossbars of the beet raiser or elevator and a beetgrasper and abeet-displacer thereon; Fig. 6, an enlarged perspective of a portion of one of the chain belts of the elevator; Fig. 7, a vertical section taken on broken line 7 7 of Fig. 5; Fig. 8, a detail front elevation of the machine, illustrating the lever for efiecting the discharge of the gathered beets and the lever for throwing the beet-[elevating mechanism into and out of operation; Fig. 9, a detail vertical section taken in plane of broken line 9 9 of Fig. 8; Fig. 10, an enlarged detail transverse section taken in the plane of the broken line 10 10 of Fig. 2; Fig. 11, a section taken at right anglesto Fig.'10 in the plane of broken line 11 11 thereof, and Fig. 12 a detail perspective view of the tappetfor operating the beet-displacing levers of the beetelevator. 1

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the several views of the drawings, referring to which 'A is the main frame of our improved machine, which preferably comprises side bars a and a front cross-bar b,- B, a front axle pivotally connected to the barb and bearing on axle C midway between the gears d; EE,

Figs. 2, 10, and I l, drive-wheels loosely mounted on spindles at the ends of axle C supporting-wheels c; C, a rear axle journaled and havinginteriorly-toothed' rings 6 attheir outer sides, and F F, Figs. 2,10, andll, disks fixed to the spindles of axle C and carrying pawls f, arranged to engagethe teeth of the rings 6. The teeth 6 and pawls f are relatively arranged, as shown in Fig. -11, and hence it will be observed that When the ma- ;chine is drawn forwardly the wheels E will turn the axle C, While when the machine is backed said wheels E will turn looselyon the axle.

G, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, is the adjustableframe of the beet-elevating mechanism. Said frame bears at its forward end on the cross-barb of the main frame A, and its rear end is hung from the side bars of the main frame through the medium of links g, adapted to swing in the direction oft-he length of the machine.

In addition to the frame G the beet-elevating mechanism comprises a forward transverse shaft h, journaled in bearings-on the side bars of the frame and bearing sprocketwheels 2', a rear transverse shaft j, journaled in bearings on the side bars of the frame and bearing spur-gears k, intermeshed with the gears d and sprocket wheels Z, preferably formed integral with the gears 70, sprocket- :o tending above and bel'ow the same.

65 the ratchet.

belts m, arranged on the sprocket-wheels i Z and having links '21, Fig. 6, provided with upwardly-extending tlaugesp, cross-bars or slats q, preferably of wood, extending from one 5 chain m to the other and having reduced ends secured between the flanges p of the chainlinks, beet-graspers H, carried by the crossbars or slats, and beet-displacing levers I, fulcrumed on the cross-bars or slats and ex- The graspers H respectively comprise a pair of hooks r, of spring-steel or other suitable material, connected to a crossbar or slat, pref-,

erably so that they may be fixed at various [5 distances apart and having their outer ends IVe desire it understood, however, that the elevating mechanism may comprise a greater or less number of rows of graspers H and displacing-levers I without involving a departure from the scope of our invention.

J, Figs; land 12, is a tappet connected to the frame G and arranged in the path of the lower arms of the beet-displacing levers I; K, Figs. 1 and 2, a vertically-movable platform hinged at s and arranged on the cam D, so as 5 to be oscillated thereby; L, a beet-receptacle carried by the main frame and arranged to receive from the platform K; M M, sections hinged at t t and constituting the bottom of the receptacle L; N N, bell-crank levers ful- 0 crumed on the side bars of the main frame and having slots in their rear arms; P P, levers fulcru med at'their rear ends on the side bars of the main frame and connected to the rear arms of the bell-crank levers by pins disposed in the slots in said rear arms; Q Q, links connecting the bottom-section M and the levers P; R R, links connecting the bottom-section M and the rear arms of the bell-crank levers N; S, a transverse rock-shaft journaled in suitable 5o bearings on the forward portion of the main frame and having a crank 'u at its ends, a ratchet-disk t; at an intermediate point of its length, and a crank 22' adjacent to said disk; T T, rods connecting the forward arms of the bell-crank levers N and the cranks u of the shaft S, and U a hand-lever fulcru med on the shaft S and carryinga detent to, engaging the ratchet-disk c. When the hand-lever U is moved in the direction indicated by arrow,

Fig. 3, the detent to engaging the teeth of the disk 11 will rock the shaft S in the same direction, while when the lever U is moved in the direction opposite to that indicated by arrow the detent will ride over the teeth of The rocking of-the shaft S in the direction indicated by arrow will, through the rods T, bell-crank levers N, levers P, and

links Q R, force the bottom-sections M M of the beet-receptacle L down into an open position and effect the discharge of beets from said receptacle to the ground. To close said bottom-sections M M subsequent to the discharge of beet-s, the driver seated on the drivers seat, which we have deemed it unnecessary to illustrate, has but to press with his foot on the crank 22 of the shaft S, so as to rock said shaft in the direction opposite to that indicated by arrowdn Fig. 3. When the bottom-sections M M of the beet-receptacle are closed, as stated, it will be observed that they will remain closed against the weight of the beets deposited in the receptacle until the hand-lever U is again operated, as before described, this because the links Q R extend vertically from said sections M M to the levers N and P.

In the practical operation of our improved machine it will be observed that when the machine is driven forwardly over the rows of beets the beet-elevator will be driven in the direction indicated by arrow, Fig. 1, and the platform K will be oscillated, also that the graspers H of the beet-elevator will take hold of and pull beets from the ground and carry the same upwardly and rearwardly to a point slightly in front of the platform K. When the graspers holding beets reach the latter point, the tappet J engages the lower arms of the levers J, and thereby swings the upper arms of the levers rearwardly and forces the beets out of the graspers. When the beets are thus forced out of the graspers, they will pass from the apron formed by the bars or slats q to the platform K, from whence they will be quickly worked into the receptacle L. When thereceptacle L is filled with beets, the bottom-sections M M are opened, in the manner before described, to deposit the beets in a pile on the ground and then closed, after which the operation described is continued.

W, Fig. 1, is a hand-lever for enabling the driver of the machine to conveniently throw the beet-elevator out of and into operation. Said lever is fulcrumedat an intermediate point of its length on the main frame and is provided with a detent an, arranged to engage a segmental rack y, fixed on said frame. In order to put the beet-elevator out of operation, the driver has but to disengage the detent at from rack 11 rock the lever Win the direction indicated by arrow, Fig. 1, so as to draw the beet-elevator forwardly through the medium of the connections WV between the lower arm of the lever and the frame G of the elevator, and disengage the gears 7.: of the ele vator from the gears (Z, and then replace the detent 0c in engagement with the rack 31. To put the beet-elevator in operation, the driver has but to reverse the operation just described2'. e., rock the lever W in the direction opposite to that indicated by arrow, Fig. 1, and adjustably fix it in position through the medium of the detent at and rack 3 Our improved machine may be used for ICC IIO

pulling onions as well as beets and when provided with rows of graspers H on the slats of fications may be made in practice as fairly fall within the scope of our'invention as claimed.

Having described our invention, What we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. In a machine for harvesting bulbous vegetables, the combination of a main frame,

wheels supporting the same, an endless veg-' etable-elevator carried by the frame, and having graspers, each of which is formed by two hooks, the outer portions of which are flared, and a connection between one of the wheels and the elevator for driving the latter by the former.

2. In a machine for harvesting bulbous vegstables, the combination of a main frame, wheels supporting the same, an endless vegetable-elevator carried bythe frame, and having graspers, each of which is formed by two hooks, the outer portions of which are flared, levers f ulcrumed on the elevator, and having outer arms disposed between the books of the graspers, a connection between one of the wheels and the elevator .for driving the latter, and a tappet arranged in the path of and adapted to engage the inner arms of the levers. r r

3. In a machine for harvesting bulbous vegetables, the combination with an elevator comprising an apron, a hook-shaped grasper carried thereby, and a lever carried by the apron, and having an outer arm arranged in the grasper, of a tappet arranged to engage the inner arm of said lever. 1

4. In a machine for harvesting bulbous vegstables, the combination of a main frame, a driving-axle journaled therein and bearing spur-gears, a framehung in the main frame, and adjustable toward and from the drivingaxle, a vegetable-elevator carried by the adjustable frame, and comprising shafts bearing sprockets, an endless apron engaging said sprockets, vegetable-graspers carried by the apron, vegetable-displacers also carried by the apron, and spur-gears on one of the shafts arranged'to engage those on the driving-axle, a tappet carried by the adjustable frame, and arranged to engage and operate the vegetabledisplacers, and means for adjusting and ad justably fixing the adjustable .frame. 7 5. Inamachineforharvestingbulbous vegetables, the combination of a frame, an end less elevator provided with vegetable-grasping means, and means for displacing vegetables from the grasping means. J

' 6. In a machine for harvesting bulbous vegetables, the combinationof a frame, an elevator carried thereby, vegetable-graspers arranged on the apron; said graspers respectively comprising hook-shaped members adj ustable in the direction of the width of the apron, and having flared outer portions,vegetable-displacinglevers mounted between the members of the graspers, and a tappet ar-,

ranged in the path of and adapted said levers.

7. In a machine for harvesting bulbous vegetables, the combination of a frame, shafts journaled therein, and bearing sprocketgears, chain belts arranged on said sprocketgears, and having links provided withoutto engage wardly-extending flanges, cross-bars extending from one chain belt to the other, and secured at their ends between the flanges thereof, vegetablegraspers respectively comprising hook-shaped members adjustably connected to the cross-bars, and having flared outer portions, levers fulcrumed on the crossbars, and having outer arms disposed between the members of the graspers, and a tappet carried by the frame, and arranged in the path of and adapted to engage the inner arms of the levers.

' 8. In a machine for harvesting bulbous Vegetables, the combination of a main frame, a

driving-axle journaled therein, and. bearing spur-gears,a frame hung in the main frame,

and adj ustable in the direction of the length thereof, an elevator c'arried'by said frame, and comprising spur-gears adapted to intermesh with those on the driving-axle, and means for adjusting-and adjustably fixing the adjustable frame.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence-of two subscribing witnesses.

EPHRAIM BEER. V FRANK CRANE.

Witnesses:

E. STUVER, EDWARD J. CONSIGERY. 

